Delhi still has to clean up: M Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: On Swachh Bharat's first anniversary, urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday singled out AAP ruled Delhi for lagging behind in the cleanliness drive. Naidu called for a better coordination between Delhi government, municipal corporations and the Centre.

"Delhi being the capital city has to clean up its act. Delhi should focus more on cleanliness. There needs to be better coordination between Delhi government and the municipal bodies. All stakeholders need to come together and work together," Naidu said.

The minister sought to brush aside suggestions that Delhi government was at loggerheads with BJP-dominated corporations. "It has nothing to do with political affiliations. But there has to be invitmore work," Naidu said.

He refused to take the blame for Delhi's lagging behind in the cleanliness mission. "It is not failure of the Centre. You cannot call it PM's failure. Prime Minister runs the entire country. The CM of Delhi runs this capital city. Delhi government should focus more on cleanliness and maintenance of infrastructure," said Naidu.

The minister also indicated a tussle with UP government, headed by SP's Akhilesh Yadav, over implementation of the Centre's scheme in PM 's constituency Varanasi.

When asked why the cleanliness mission did not have the desired impact in the UP city, Naidu said, "I have visited the city recently to review the progress of two schemes sanctioned by the Centre. But there is a tussle between the urban local bodies in Varanasi and the state government. This is why the implementation has been very poor."

Releasing Swachch Bharat's target achievement statistics, Naidu said that while most states, including Gujarat, MP and Maharashtra, were faring well, others have to get their act together.